Zara Phillips's chance of making the British Olympic three-day event team had been virtually written off after the retirement last year of her world and European championship-winning horse Toytown. But third place on High Kingdom in the Olympic trial at Bramham, Yorkshire, at the weekend has given her renewed hope of being included in the five-strong team who will be announced this week.

The world No1 William Fox-Pitt won both the main events at Bramham but even the king of eventing must give way to a real-life royal, especially in jubilee year. Phillips attracts the biggest cheers from the crowd and of course the largest lenses from the equestrian paparazzi.

After going clear in the cross-country to secure third place behind Fox-Pitt and the New Zealander Andrew Nicholson, Phillips said she hoped she had done enough to win a place in the British team. "Hopefully the selectors will see that he's improved and might get even better," she said. "It will be hilly at Greenwich and he's shown he can cope with that."

Did the fact that it was make or break add to the pressure? "I wasn't feeling any extra pressure until I saw the selectors going round in a group," she said. "But it's good to be put under pressure. Then you see if you can come up with the goods."

Fox-Pitt is a certainty for the British team and did not even feel the need to bring his top horse, Parklane Hawk, to Bramham. Nicola Wilson and Georgina "Piggy" French are likely to be included, alongside the veteran Mary King, who will equal Tessa Sanderson's record of six successive Olympics if she is chosen. That leaves Phillips vying with half a dozen other riders for the fifth spot.

She was asked if her grandmother was taking an interest in her fortunes. "Well, she knew I was competing here," she said. Naturally, the selectors will not be influenced by extra-sporting factors.